Chapter 1 7 



Shared Facilities 



THE LIBRARY OF THE Museum of Natural History 

 has had a curious history within the Institution. 

 In the vigorous congressional debate before the Smith- 

 sonian was formed, there were strong proponents oi 

 its taking on the duties of a national library — long be- 

 fore the Library of Congress assumed that role. In the 

 early days of Secretary Henry's regime, the issue of the 

 relative significance of the library within the Smithson- 

 ian was still hot. Arguments about what share of the 

 Smithsonian endowment should go into library activi- 

 ties continued for years. Eventually the librarian, as- 

 sistant secretary Charles Jewett, was discharged, and 

 Henry, although buffeted by the storm of protest that 

 followed, was able to prevail in his view that the Insti- 

 tution should be concerned primarily with research. 



After Jewett left, most of the Institution's books were 

 deposited in the Library of Congress, whence, in the- 

 ory, they could be recalled as needed. In fact, "so urgent 

 was the [Smithsonian's] need for more books that Sec- 

 retary Spencer F. Baird in 1881 donated his extensive 

 private library, a valuable collection of standard works 

 on biology and industry, to supplement the existing 

 small nucleus of the Museum library."' This library was 

 devoted almost entirely to natural history, with a mod- 

 icum of shelf space devoted to technology, art, and 

 other pursuits. 



In 1911, when the new National Museum was com- 

 pleted, the library in the main moved in, leaving some 

 of its holdings in the Castle and the Arts and Industries 

 Building, and also leaving the chief librarian on the 

 south side of the Mall. "In view ... of the more ample 

 accommodations afforded by the new building and the 

 fact that the larger proportion of the publications were 

 included in the transfer [to the new building]," it was 

 decided in 1912 "that the library there established should 

 be the central one for the receipt, recording, catalogu- 

 ing and distribution of all books and for all other prep- 

 aratory work."^ 



Taxidermy shop in the east courtyard. Left to right: Charles 

 R. W. Aschemeier, Watson M. Perrygo (partially hidden 

 between the two wolves), and William Goodloe. Probably 

 taken in 1957. 



Rathbun wrote the following year: 



T he sjjace assigned to the library in the new 

 building, located in the grotnid story of the 

 northern section of the east range consists of what 

 was originally a single room with northern 

 exposure, 107 feet 7 inches long by 21 feet 1 inch 

 wide, and a smaller room, facing on the east court. 

 . . . The former has been divided into three 

 compartments for the book stacks, catalogue cases, 

 and reading accommodations. . . . All of the area is 

 utilized to the full height of the story, this being 

 accomplished by [a major internal structural 

 change:] the introduction of a mezzanine floor in 

 the stack room and of galleries in the reading 

 rooms, which are at a uniform height of 7 feet 1 1 

 inches above the ground. . . . The main reading 

 room and consulting room has also a gallery 

 continuous with that in the smaller room . . . which 

 extends along the three walls other than that 

 occupied by the windows.' 

 The gallery floors did not extend to the windows, so 

 the exterior appearance of the building was unmarred. 

 No doubt this gallery provided the precedent for later 

 changes in the east range and on the west side of the 

 btiilding. 



In fiscal year 1929, the library rooms were repainted, 

 "new lights and ventilators were installed, a cork runner 

 was laid the full length of the reference and stack rooms, 

 and the two large, awkward reading tables were con- 

 verted into four attractive, small ones."' During the 

 1930s, considerable free labor from the WPA and ear- 

 lier organizations was utilized to improve shelving and 

 cataloguing. 



Despite the privations common to most libraries — 

 insufficient staff, too little space, and inadequate funds 

 for purchasing, binding, and repair — the Museum's li- 

 brarians coped well with requests by users. They proved 

 especially resourceful during World War II, when "rep- 

 resentatives of about 35 different branches of the war 

 agencies . . . called for assistance or [came] in person 

 to do research.'" Until after World War II, a messenger 

 took the last elevator trip of the day to bring a book 

 cart around, dropping off requested items and col- 



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